Just as an individual family is made up of unique members with a different purpose, so the Human Family is also composed of three separate strands of peoples with similar characteristics. As with an individual family who shares similarities as well as differences, the Human Family has, within its history, these characteristics as well. God’s ordained strands of the human family are: the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Christian. This paper will look at each of these three strands of the human family with a focus on the similarities and differences within the three strands. This understanding promotes a clearer understanding of God’s Word and His prophetic outlook for the student of God’s Word.

It could truthfully be stated using a very familiar portion of Scripture: “In the beginning…” God created Gentiles. It is the Gentile who first appears on the scene on the pages of Biblical history, and it was the first strand of the human family which included Adam and Eve. Gentiles inhabited the first place on Earth, Gentiles were the first to commune with God, and Gentiles would later provide the person to whom another strand of the human family would be birthed. That being said, Gentiles would, unfortunately, also have the sorrow of bringing the first sin into the world, committing the first murder, and being responsible for casting all of humanity into a fallen state of depravity. God would use a Gentile by the name of Noah to protect the human strand, as well as His creation, through a worldwide judgmental flood that would reset the field for new beginnings. A key point in also dealing with the Gentile strand is that, all of the “colored” races stem from the Gentile foundation. While many throughout history have declared “white supremacy” and certain races to be “lower” than others, in God’s eyes, they have always been equal, and all the actors from the stage of history past either came from Gentile or Jewish descent. The truth remains that, left on their own, Gentiles would have never come to know the mercy and gift of God’s Salvation, without the appearance of the Jewish strand and God’s prophetic Messianic plan. The Gentile is noted as being “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12-13,KJV).¹ While the Gentile was indeed the first strand of humanity in God’s creation, it would take a second strand to advance the race toward the coming Messiah, and the “propitiation for our sins” (I John 2:2, KJV).

The second strand of the human family to be created by God is the Jewish strand. While the Jewish strand would come from the Gentile strand, it would be different in its relationship to God and its duty to mankind. In Genesis, chapter 12, Abram is called by God to leave his land and family and go to a “land that I will show thee” (Genesis 12:1, KJV). Had it not been for Abram fulfilling this first act of faith, perhaps he would have been just another minor character in the story of God’s people. Abram’s obedience began the formation of the new human strand known as the Jews.

Just as with the Gentiles, the Jews still needed a Savior. They were lost in their sins and could not merit redemption on their own. God’s wonderful grace and mercy, however, provided something for the Jew that the Gentiles did not have: A Messiah! God did not raise up a Savior from the Gentile world; instead, He created a people through which an ancestral line would one day yield that Kinsman Redeemer. God also provided, through the Jewish strand, Covenants for His Jewish people. These Covenants are proprietary to the Jewish race alone, yet do hold some spiritual significance to the third group in the human family which will be discussed hereafter. Gentiles were not privy to these Covenants and therefore could not receive the direct blessings that would flow out to the Jews. One such Covenant would be the bedrock for the Jewish race, that agreement known as the “Abrahamic Covenant”. Upon the departure out of his home land, Abraham is promised by God that “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3, KJV). God’s promise to Abraham is enduring to this day, as is His love for His people. The Covenant establishes the fact that a Nation would be established through Abraham which would be the Jewish race.

Other Covenants peculiar to the Jewish would be that of the Land Covenant, which sets forth the stipulations of the possession of the Land promised (Deuteronomy 29-30, KJV); the Davidic Covenant, which promises the future Kingdom (II Samuel 7:10, KJV); and the New Covenant, which promises the Redemption (Jeremiah 31:31-34, KJV). None of these Covenants were meant for the Gentiles; neither were they meant for the Church, as is the fallacy commonly taught today among “Replacement Theology” heretics. Spiritual blessings and applications can be realized through some, yet none set forth the Gentile nor the Church as the intended primary recipient.

The question remains: “Why did God select the Jew”? The answer could be no more simple than the fact that God loved them (Deuteronomy 7:6-8, KJV)! Their existence also provided: Testimony of a pure, powerful almighty God to the world; Testimony of blessing received from the obedience to a pure and powerful almighty God; Tool of preservation and distribution of God’s Word to the Word; and a peoples through which to bring the Messiah into the World.

The third strand of this human family is that of the Christian. The Origins of the Christian race can not be traced to a fleshly lineage, but rather through a miraculous creation by God through Christ and His completed work on the Cross. Paul uses several key words in Ephesians 2 to describe the origin of this new peoples: “for he (Christ) is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us…for to make in himself of twain one new man…that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross…through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the father…” (Ephesians 2:14-18, KJV, Italics and Underscore mine). The Christian, as Paul describes, is that person, whether Jew or Gentile, who has accepted Christ as Savior and becomes a child of God. In God’s eyes, that person, though still owning physical, cultural, and ethnic traits on Earth, is no longer seen as “Jew” or “Gentile” but as “Christian”. With this in mind, it then provides a much clearer picture for the student of Bible prophecy to understand God’s Word and endtime events. It is not being “Jewish” that will gain entrance into the Kingdom, but rather being a blood washed repentant sinner that will create the “new man” and conversion to that of “Christian”. It is not a partial payment for redemption, as can be construed from the Messianic Jewish Movement of today, where one believes that Jews indeed have a “separate path” that can be obtained through ordinances and practices in addition to God’s Salvation. Where law and grace are combined, there is no remission of sins.

The three strands of God’s human family: the Gentile, the Jew, and the Christian, are all in existence today by God’s grace and His almighty wisdom. These three strands, though similar in some aspects, are yet very different and will continue to play their roles throughout the end times scenario, until all of God’s plan has been achieved.

Endnotes

1All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Bible version, Royal, 1971.